Design Declares Australia

Chairperson

RENY®

We are in the business of creative exploration, pioneering transformation for organisations & brands focused on designing better outcomes for humanity.

Co-Founder / Managing Partner

Co-Founder / Design Director

Surfrider Foundation Australia

Advisory Board Member

Chumpy Pullin Foundation

Member Board of Directors

Skin Check Champions

Advisory Board

ELECTRIC ⚡️

Partner

Eon Labs

Mr Simple - Sidelife

mwah. making work absolutely human

Luxottica Group

General Manager Wholesale

Oakley Asia Pacific

General Manager - Arnette Sunglasses ANZ

Sales Director

CEO / Partner @ RENY®Studio | B Corp

As a co-founder and managing partner at Reny ®, I have the amazing opportunity to help transform companies through Orbital Design (picking up where Human-Centred Design left off, giving Mother Nature a seat at the design table, leading to social and climate impact). 

I am an award-winning writer for my publication Uncluttered White Spaces (2009-16), and my new book, Lessons in Creativity, will be available in all good bookstores from May 2025 through Wiley Publishing.

As a certified B Corp, we design creative solutions, products, and brands that impact the community, climate, and humanities.

I have experience working with driven leaders, obsessive designers, genius engineers, demanding CEOs, ambitious CMOs, hard-driving founders, eager investors, observant writers, precise technologists, insightful artists, visionary directors, gifted misfits, hopeful students and passionate up-and-comers.

Client/Project experience: Patagonia, Google, K-Mart, Canon, Nike, Adidas, American Apparel, Dolce & Gabbana, Ray-Ban, Chanel, Prada, City of Sydney, City of Melbourne, Tourism Australia, Cancer Council, Heart Foundation, Mr Simple, Herschel, ProBuild, Stone Island, CP Company, Boxfresh, Giro, Oakley, Electric, Luxottica, Bank of SA, Westpac Bank, St George Bank, Australia Post, Land Rover, Boody, Re-Design, Vandal, Warner, Carryology, IMG.

I have advised senior executives and boards and worked with some of the world's most important brands. I currently serve as Chair for Design Declares, the advisory board for the Surfrider Foundation, and I was the founding board member for The Chumpy Pullin Foundation. 

My insights and writing have been featured in Fast Company, ABC, Inc. Magazine, and other prominent publications, earning me recognition as an awarded writer. My new book, Lessons in Creativity, will be available in May 2025.

I frequently speak on the value of Orbital Design (For Impact), creativity, and technology through platforms like TEDx and Vivid Sydney. I was also invited to speak at Parliament House with the Prime Minister and government officials on the role of creativity and design in shifting our future.

Ben Rennie

Michele’s clarity and interpretations of our thinking has certainly helped me reform my own clarity on our talk. I love how Michele broke this down in the best possible way. I will be printing this off and putting it on my wall as a reference.

I always try to remind people when I am presenting on a stage to an audience, I am not there as a success story (quite the opposite actually), I am there to remind them how hard it is, that it’s always hard and that getting comfortable with the idea of hard is where we find our creativity, in the space where fear and curiosity exist together.

Thanks Michele. Love this.

Founder at Reny® | Chair at Design Declares AUS | Author of Lessons in Creativity |

Creative Technologist • Entrepreneur • Science Communicator • Host and producer of STEAM Powered and NepoPod

My notes from How to Kick the Shit Out of Plan B with Ben Rennie and Miff Rennie at SXSW Sydney. Great perspectives on their personal journeys when Plan A goes out the window.

Some similarities here with Maggie Jackson's session on uncertainty, my notes here: https://lnkd.in/dZD3nSJ4

It also reminded me of Tim Minchin's "Play It Safe" created for the Sydney Opera House 50th Anniversary, check it out: https://lnkd.in/dpjTyBRc which he spoke about in his panel with Suzie Miller, Josh Niland, and Jonathan Kneebone at SXSW Sydney last year (brilliant session).

#sxswsydney2025

How to Kick the Shit Out of Plan B

Slattery

Head of Communications & Marketing

Wardle

Communications Manager

Woods Bagot

Woods Bagot is a design firm with studios in 16 major cities around the world. A member of the global communications team, I was a trusted advisor to business and design leaders, and led a small but super team of communicators and digital producers in their own development and the delivery of ambitious communications with measurable impact.

Regional Manager, Public Relations (Australia & New Zealand)

Hayball

In supporting Hayball's national expansion into new markets, my strategic input, corporate knowledge and content creation elevated project-winning bids and award-winning entries with compelling first impressions backed by substance. I guided the development of communications strategies and drove a culture for strong internal communication across studios in four Australian locations.

Practice Communications

Molecule

Molecule is an architecture and interior design studio whose culture is distinguished by an uncommon blend of care, cordiality and intellectual energy. In sharing these values, it was a joy to provide executive assistance to the three directors and leadership to a young team. Intersecting with every operational need, I administered all business and IT functions and ensured studio life ran like a well-oiled machine. In delivering a coordinated and targeted communications program, an unprecedented amount of high-quality coverage in design and lifestyle media was secured.

Studio Manager

Denton Corker Marshall

Denton Corker Marshall is an architecture practice with offices in Melbourne, Jakarta and London. My role fulfilled the firm's national and international endeavours to retain its regard as one of Australia's most significant contributors to the global architectural scene.

Australian Institute of Architects

The Institute is the peak body for Australia's 12,000+ architectural professionals. Media and corporate communication activities support its role to promote the value of architects and architecture to the sustainable growth of Australia's economic and cultural life, and contribute to debates on public policy development on issues of our built environment.

National Media & PR Officer

Australian Physiotherapy Association

The APA is the peak body representing the interests of Australian physiotherapists and their patients. Media exposure supports the APA's endeavours to influence public policy on Australia's healthcare system with an advocacy platform of public campaigns, evidence-based position statements and submissions. In this newly created role I helped raised the profile of the profession by establishing trusting relationships with key health and political journalists and editors across Australia, and identifying and generating newsworthy opportunities for media campaigns and exposure.

Media Officer

City of Port Phillip

A local government area marked by a richly diverse community, and host to several of Melbourne's most celebrated and innovative cultural festivals and major events. My interest in the relationship between design and sustainable communities was kindled here, working as a dedicated advisor to the City Development division: strategic planning, architecture and urban design, economic development and tourism, sustainable transport, animal management and community housing.

Communications Advisor

Constitutional Centenary Foundation

The Constitutional Centenary Foundation was a source of non-partisan information about Australia's constitution and system of government. Working closely with the Executive Director, my role supported the development and promotion of civics programs and events at local, state and national level, and  brought me into contact with leaders in business, the arts, education, government and community bodies. The experience gained in high level administration of public information programs and events was invaluable.

Communications Project Officer

"Your reputation is my job." — accomplished communications strategist and change leader with a sharp eye for detail, an appetite for learning, and engagement skills for consultative solutions. Experienced in working across all levels of talent, leadership, clients and stakeholders in national and global professional services firms, I am that colleague you can rely on to speak your language, understand your pain points, and steer the direction to make great things happen.

taplio

The Battle

Ben Rennie

Kirsten (KT) Trengove

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taplio

The Battle

Ben Rennie

Kirsten (KT) Trengove

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ben Rennie's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreBen Rennie's LinkedIn Performance